Vital breaks a Sam Snead record with his 62 at Reading in a remarkable Junior Tour victory

    If you watched Liberty sophomore Matt Vital win the Boys 12-13 division of the Drive, Chip & Putt National Finals at Augusta National Golf Club on The Golf Channel in 2019, you could see this day coming.

   Vital chipped in to win the division then and, in the process, showed the moment was not too big for him. You’d think a kid that age might get at least a little intimidated competing in front of television cameras at one of the cathedrals of the game.

   There were no television cameras for the Philadelphia Section PGA Junior Tour’s stop Saturday at Reading Country, Club, the classic layout along Route 422 in Exeter Township. But Matt Vital was, much like he was at Augusta two years ago, very special.

   Matt Vital birdied half the holes against a lone bogey as he fired a brilliant 8-under-par 62 on the 6,162-yard, par-70 Reading layout to break the competitive course record of 63 set by, get this, World Golf Hall of Famer Sam Snead in 19 and 49, 72 years ago.

   Matt Vital birdied the second, third and fifth holes for a 3-under 31 tour of Reading’s outgoing nine, but he was just getting started. He made birdies at the 10^th and 11^th holes before his only stumble of the day, a bogey at the 12^th. He proceeded to birdie four of the last five holes, 14, 16, 17 and 18, to go 5-under, another 31, on the incoming nine. 

   I’ve never played Reading, but I know its reputation. It’s certainly short by today’s standards, but it is tight with OB and water, the kind of hazards that often lead to big numbers for young players.

   And it’s not like everybody was making birdies all over the place on a cool and increasingly cloudy April Saturday.

  La Salle junior Darren Nolan birdied the 13^th hole and had 11 pars to earn runnerup honors in the 16-to-18 division with a 6-over 76, 14 shots behind Matt Vital.

   Pretty sure Matt Vital is still eligible to play in the younger 13-to-15 division, where Michael Vital – pretty sure he’s Matt’s brother and they might be twins – finished in third place with a decent 80 Saturday. But Matt Vital is playing up against the older guys, probably in preparation for a summer of junior golf.

   The win at Reading was Matt Vital’s second straight in the 16-to-18 division as he carded a 1-under 71 to win last Sunday’s stop at Out Door Country Club in York.

   Noah Moelter of Doylestown had 10 pars on his scorecard in posting an 81 that left him alone in third place among the older guys with an 81.

   Jordan Minter of Royersford, Brady Manning of Downingtown and Spring-Ford sophomore Luke Fazio each landed on 82 to finish in a tie for fourth place, a shot behind Mueller.

   Alex Wilson of Roaring Brook Township finished alone in seventh place with an 84, Downingtown East senior Dylan Gute was eighth with an 84 and Owen J. Roberts junior Victor Mominey and Nathan Jones of Wayne rounded out the top 10 in the 16-to-18 division as they ended up in a tie for ninth place, each signing for an 85.

   Hunter Probst of Bear Creek had four birdies on his scorecard as he registered an 8-over 78 to finish atop the 13-to-15 division leaderboard. Probst birdied the sixth hole and then rattled off three straight birdies at 15, 16 and 17 to help him go even-par with a 36 on Reading’s incoming nine.

   Travis Robertson of Fort Washington made birdies at the seventh, ninth and 13^th holes as he finished a shot behind Probst in second place with a 79. Michael Vital of Bethlehem’s Team Vital was another shot behind Robertson in third place with an 80 as he had eight pars and a birdie on the 17^th hole.

   Joseph Sambrot of Harrisburg took fourth place with an 81, Jack Coleman of Kennett Square was fifth with an 85 and Chase Dillman of Gilbertsville was sixth with an 86.

   Robert Manley of Clarks Summit and Brendan Reilly of Doylestown shared seventh place, each posting an 87, and Daniel Shin of Horsham and Cade Kelleher, another Clarks Summit entry, rounded out the top 10 in the 13-to-15 division as they finished in a tie for 10^th place, each landing on 91.

   Phoenixville’s Kate Roberts, a District One Class AAA qualifier as a freshman last fall, had nine pars, rattling off five straight from the second through the sixth holes, to claim a victory in the girls 16-to-18 division with an 82.

   Paige Damon of Manchester had three pars as she earned runnerup honors with a 92. Carly Gavant of Hoboken, JN.J. rounded out the 16-to-18 division field as she made three pars while taking third place with a 102.

   Alexandra Engart of Harleysville finished strong with a birdie on the 16^th hole to go along with her six pars as she finished atop the 13-to-15 division leaderboard with an 85. Kiersten Bodge of West Chester had five pars to claim runnerup honors with an 88.

   Kayley Roberts of Phoenixville’s Team Roberts had back-to-back birdies at the 13^th and 14^th holes on her way to a back-nine 42 as she finished in third place with a 91. Kayley Roberts was coming off a tie for 13^th place in the Futures Division of the Mid-Atlantic Girls Championship, a Peggy Kirk Bell Girls Tour stop at Bulle Rock Golf Club in Havre de Grace, Md. last weekend.

   Morgan Kunze of Royersford took fifth place with a 99, Brynne Mushlin of Berwyn was sixth with a 102, Natalie White of Bangor was seventh with a 103 and Elayna Fanelli of Villanova rounded out the 13-to-15 field as she finished eighth with a 114.

   Callahan Harrell of York had a birdie on the eighth hole and three pars as he bested the field of nine-holers with a 6-over 40. Jason Mark of Delaware Water Gap had six pars, making three straight at the sixth, seventh and eighth holes, to claim runnerup honors with a 7-over 41.

   William Johnson of Berwyn ripped off three straight pars at the fifth, sixth and seventh holes as he finished in third place with a 42. Luke McGraw of Boalsburg finished a shot behind Johnson in fourth place with a 43.

   Sarah Stumacher of Gladwyne and Alaina Carson of Broomall finished in a tie for fifth place, each signing for a 48. Giula Weisser of Reading was a shot behind Stumacher and Carson in seventh place with a 49.

   Onyu Park of Blue Bell, Henry Sokol of Villanova and Carter Hippauf of Quakertown finished in a tie for eighth place, each registering a 50. Looks like Henry Sokol earned low-Sokol honors by two shots as Jack Sokol of Villanova’s Team Sokol finished in 11^th place with a 52. Henry and Jack Sokol are both Class of 2029 competitors, so we might be talking twins.